Maybe it's Better to be Friends
by ImagingThings
Summary: After the events of Enlightenment Tegan stumbles across a poem left by an earlier companion and makes a decision: Maybe it really IS better to be friends!


As soon as the three of them entered the TARDIS Tegan stormed right through the control room and out the door in the back, clearly headed towards her room. For a moment Turlough considered going after her but a slight shake of the head from the Doctor made him change his mind.

"Sometimes she just gets angry." The Doctor explained. "She'll be good again soon."

"Yeah. But there's one thing you seem to be forgetting, Doctor. She hates my guts."

"Just give her some time."

For a while they were quiet while the Doctor worked on mending the partly destroyed controls. After some time he stood up and looked at them with a frown.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Nothing's the matter. The TARDIS is just low on energy, which unfortunately means we can't go anywhere. So, I'm afraid we'll be stuck here for a while."

***

Tegan was angry. No, she was royally pissed off. Why did the Doctor trust that, that slimy little assassin, liar _coward _more than he trusted her? He'd been lying all along so why should he suddenly be telling the truth? How could they know that this whole hurling-the-crystal-towards-the-Black-Guardian business hadn't just been a trick to gain their trust? Or rather, _her _trust; unfortunately he'd had the Doctor's trust all along. Even more now.

Eventually she decided that it was a waste of energy to keep focusing on her anger at the third member of the party. Quietly she left her room and started wandering around the TARDIS, she didn't want to return to the control room in case Turlough was still around, not as much because he didn't like his company – which she didn't, mind you. – As because she was worried she might lash out at him. Even though she didn't like him she was still just as much a guest on the TARDIS as he was. And guests don't fight each other, no matter how much they despise each other.

Suddenly she found herself in front of a small door, nothing special; just like the doors to all the other rooms. However, this door had a piece of paper attached to it. A piece of paper upon which was scribbled

"**Office room**

**Sort of"**

In an uncertain handwriting. Why had someone attached a piece of paper to the door? Tegan was quite sure it wasn't the Doctor. After all, why would he need signs on the doors in his own TARDIS? In the end her curiosity got the better of her and she decided that she might as well have a look inside. Carefully she opened the door and stepped inside and in a moment it became clear why whoever had written the sign had referred to the room as some sort of office; in the middle of the room stood a large desk, of the type one might find in a very large and dusty office, the office of a director who knew his desk was immensely impractical and unfashionable but still kept it because it had passed down through the generations ever since his great-great-great-grandfather who had first started the family firm. That was all there was in the room; just the desk with its similarly old-styled chair behind it. Nothing more. Why did the TARDIS have a room with nothing but a very old set of furniture in it? Quickly jumping to the conclusion that there was only one way to find out Tegan went over to the desk, hoping that the desk had drawers which could hide any objects. True enough, on each side of the sitting place where two large drawers. Opening one of them she was surprised to find what appeared to be a schoolbook, probably something from the 60es, which she opened and to her surprise found a small poem written on the blank page before the index.

_What are friends?_

_Friends are people you can trust._

_Friends know they can trust you._

_Friends don't mistrust each other._

_And a really good friend is able to forgive if someone has done something bad._

_After all:_

_Every friendship has to start somewhere._

Reading the poem Tegan suddenly felt a surge of guilt wash over her. She had been really unfair towards Turlough. Of course she hadn't really thought of him as a friend before, rather as an intruder, but as the unknown poet so wisely had written; every friendship had to start somewhere. Still, the poet had also written that friends were people you could trust and if she had to be completely honest with herself, and she guessed that was best, considering her anger came from someone else not being quite honest, she wasn't sure she could trust him. A part of her wanted nothing more than force the truth out of him, making him tell exactly how he'd ended up on Earth in the first place, but another, the part which had already begun to feel a slight compassion towards her fellow companion – a slight smile crept across her face, she had already begun to consider him a fellow companion rather than just an intruder – didn't feel like it was right; after all she didn't know how painful the memories of whatever had happened were. After a few considerations she decided what to do and left the small room to find him.

He was easier to find than she had expected him to be, sitting relaxed at the table in the kitchen eating a toast as if he was just a normal boy in a normal kitchen. Tegan had halfway suspected to find him creeping along somewhere on the corridors, but of course; the only reason he'd done that so much was very likely the Black Guardian forcing him to do all sorts of things with the TARDIS. Pushing the Black Guardian out of her mind she went over at sat across from him at the table.

"Why were you on Earth?"

Her question made him jerk upwards and he coughed slightly.

"What? Why do you care?"

"Because, believe it or not, I have come to the conclusion it might be better if we at least try to be friends. There's just a small problem though; friends need to be able to trust each other and how can I trust you if you won't even tell such a simple thing?"

"It's not that simple." He murmured.

"Listen." Tegan begun. "You don't have to tell me everything. If there's something you don't want me to know, either because it hurts too much or because it's really not my concern, just keep your mouth shut. I just don't want any outright lies."

"Yeah." Turlough answered slowly, a small smile showing in the corner of his mouth. "But how will you know whether I tell you the truth or not?"

"I trust you."

She didn't say anything else, just sat quietly waiting for him to speak. Showing him that while she weren't going to force him to speak she weren't going to leave either.

"I was an exile."

That was all. In a way she wanted to ask him why. How he had ended up as an exile but she had been the one telling him that he didn't have to tell her everything. Surely he would come clear eventually.

"I'm sorry."

"You weren't the one exiling me."

"No. Not about that. I'm sorry about not trusting you. I never was that nasty towards Nyssa or Adric."

"On the other hand; the never gave you a reason to did they? Listen, Tegan, I'm _glad _you insisted on not trusting me. After all; if you hadn't been this _very _annoying presence on my back all the time I might have succeeded."

The pure venom in his voice when he said succeeded made Tegan realize once and for all that he didn't really think killing the Doctor would have been a good thing. Maybe he really _had _spoken the truth after he had banished the Black Guardian. He really hadn't wanted the agreement and had only been desperate.

"Why did you do it? Make that deal?"

"He told me that if I killed the Doctor he would bring me home. But I don't think he was going to."

"No. Me neither. And I am sorry, Turlough. But, even if he _had _intended to actually keep his end of the bargain it wouldn't have helped you. Because I would have killed you before that."

For a while they just sat quietly at the table, both of them realizing that they might just have gained a new friend.

"What about you?" Turlough suddenly asked.

"Me what?"

"How did you end up here?"

"My car broke down. I saw the TARDIS, thought it was a regular police box, went inside, and got lost. The rest is pretty much history."

Slowly Tegan begun to tell about her adventures with the Doctor, Nyssa and Adric. She left out the bit concerning Adric's death and her own possession by the Mara, not only did those things still hurt too much a part of her had subconsciously decided that it really _was _a waste of energy to keep focusing on the bad things. After all; they'd had funny adventures too, or even funny elements in those not-so-funny adventures. She found herself chuckling slightly at the memory of the women by the well in Castrovalva, each pointing a different direction when the Doctor asked them where the gate was.

After Tegan had told several stories Turlough warmed up and started telling a few stories too, stories from his time at Brendon. And even though he tried to make it appear like he hated it he couldn't quite hide the truth from Tegan. Even though he hated the fact that he was an exile he'd still had at least _some _fun at the school, most of it coming from his slight rebellious nature.

"You did _what_?" Tegan asked incredulously.

"Stole the Brig's car. Then we crashed. You know the rest."

A shadow crept across his face and Tegan, feeling no need to make him go through his dealings with the Black Guardian once more, quickly got up from her chair.

"Come on." She said with a smile "let's go and see what the Doctor is up to."

***

The Doctor heard the familiar clapping of Tegan's heals, then the almost completely silent sound of the door to the back of the TARDIS opening.

"Ah. Hello Tegan. You haven't bitten the head of Turlough have you?"

"No." Came his companion's dry reply. "Too much work. And I _really _don't like the taste of blood in my mouth. I _was _looking for an axe though…"

Turning around to tell her off the Doctor was surprised to find both Tegan _and _Turlough standing in front of him, grinning slightly at each other.

"Very funny. You two. _Very _funny. Now, the TARDIS should have enough energy to land."

Deftly he pushed a few buttons on the control and his companions, both already knowing very well the stability – or rather, lack of same – during the flights on the TARDIS quickly went over and braced themselves next to the Doctor. After a few mad dashes of tossing around, which seemed to be a mandatory part of every TARDIS flight, the floor once again turned stable and the Doctor pressed the button to the scanner, revealing what appeared to be some kind of medieval court; complete with jesters, knights and a person whom Tegan judged to be the King.

"Wouw." She said with an odd look towards Turlough, "Your people are really retro."

"That's not my planet. Or, it _could _be, but then you've landed us in the wrong place. Our technology is _way _above the pitiful excuse for technology you have on Earth."

Despite the clear contempt in his voice towards her home world's technological level Tegan just couldn't bring herself to be angry. It was a strange feeling really, especially for someone who normally got angry with the slightest annoyance. Instead she smiled at her new friend.

"Same thing happened for me once; got to Heathrow but in the wrong time."

"Yes." The Doctor said, having looked closer to the coordinates. "But I'm afraid we really _aren't _on you planet, Turlough. As far as I can see this is England, 12th century."

"What happened then?" Turlough asked, unable to hide his curiosity towards the past of the planet he'd been referring to as a 'hole in the middle of nowhere' for all his time on the TARDIS, and before that in his mind.

"I have no idea." The Doctor said happily, a wide smile already spreading across his face. "Why don't we go and find out?" and with those words he went straight to the door, his two companions following him. Secretly Tegan was happy they had ended up in the wrong destination, after all; she didn't really want to say goodbye to another friend so soon after saying goodbye to Nyssa.


End file.
